George RR Martin has said that the group of rightwing science fiction writers who tried to swing the results of this weekend’s Hugo awards to their own agenda were “routed” by the majority of fans who “did not like having their choices imposed on us”.

Two campaign groups, the so-called “Sad Puppies” and their more politically extreme counterparts the “Rabid Puppies”, had mobilised earlier this year to vote a bloc of writers onto the shortlists for the Hugo awards. The Sad Puppies set out to combat what writer Brad Torgersen had attacked as the Hugos’ tendency to reward works which are “niche, academic, overtly to the Left in ideology and flavour, and ultimately lacking what might best be called visceral, gut-level, swashbuckling fun”, and what writer Larry Correia told Wired was “boring message-fic winning awards”.

But on Saturday, members of the World Science Fiction Society rejected the finalists for the Hugos in an unprecedented five categories, voting for “No Award” rather than any of the nominees backed by the Puppies, which had included work by John C Wright, an author known for his homophobic views. Nominees picked by the Puppies won in only one category: Guardians of the Galaxy took best dramatic presentation.

“The Puppies lost and lost big; not just defeated, but routed, finishing behind No Award in almost all cases,” blogged Martin on Tuesday night. The bestselling author of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series has been a high-profile voice in what he has called “the controversy that has plunged all fandom into war”, urging fans to vote and criticising the Puppies for their actions.

On Tuesday, he said that “the Puppies are howling in outrage and anger, while simultaneously claiming it as a great victory and what they wanted all along”. But fandom, according to Martin, is “mostly relieved”.

“No, not a great Hugo night – how could it be, with so many No Awards – but not nearly as bad as some had feared either. And my own reactions? Mixed,” wrote the novelist.

Martin was “pleased … greatly”, he said, to see Chinese author Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem win the best Hugo novel – an award won in the past by some of science fiction’s major names. “It’s a strong book, an AMBITIOUS book, a worthy winner … and the first Hugo to go to China, which is cool. Let us put more ‘world’ in worldcon, by all means.”

But he “hated” to see both editing categories go to “No Award”, rather than editors nominated by the Puppies, saying that “in my judgment the voters threw the babies out with bathwater in these two categories”, and adding that he “also misliked the roar of approval that went up at the announcement of the first No Award”.

“I understand it, yes … fandom as a whole is heartily sick of the Puppies and delighted to see them brought low … but No Award is an occasion for sadness, not celebration, especially in THESE two categories,” wrote Martin.

But “all in all”, Martin wrote that he “left the hall feeling pretty good”, with his “worst fears – a Puppy sweep, or across-the-board wins by the Nuclear Option” of “No Award” unrealised.

“The vote totals, when we saw them, were overwhelming. Conclusive proof that Puppygate was never a war between the Puppies and the ‘SJWs’, as their narratives would have it,” he wrote, referring to the “social justice warrior” label that the Puppies have used to describe those who disagree with them.

“There were no SJWs, then or now. There were only the Puppies … and the rest of us, who weren’t Puppies, and did not like having their choices imposed on us,” Martin wrote.

Other wins at Saturday’s awards in Spokane, Washington, included G Willow Wilson’s Ms Marvel, which took the best graphic novel Hugo, and Wesley Chu’s victory in the John W Campbell award for best new writer.